Nothing Endures But Change

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

One of humankind’s greatest thoughts is embodied in this quote from the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus.  It’s right up there with “I think therefore I am,” and “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

But where the last two of the three are indisputable, what up with this “persistence of change” stuff?

It’s true that the aspects of people and things change.  The walls of the Grand Canyon are constantly shifting, but no sensible person thinks it’s a different place than it was millions of years ago.

Most of the cells in my body die and are replaced in a matter of a few months, and my attitudes and believes morph day by day.  But my beloved kindergarten teacher, Alice Adams, will exist in my memories until the day I die.

What Heraclitus left of us is intellectually stimulating, but it doesn’t affect how we function as human beings.